Nekomamushi

I think we'll go crazy waiting for the episodes in the weekend and end up getting 10k before the episodes drop

I tried watching nirvana in fire as a Chinese historical starter but dropped it after 2 eps. Probably because I wasn't used to long historical dramas at that time and I expected to be hooked into after just one episode. Then my entry was Story of yanxi palace, which did take 2-3 eps for me to get hooked on, but was totally worth it. It generally takes atleast 6-7 episodes to get used to the settings since there are lot of characters to focus on. And I read mdzs, and I remember being confused for first few chapters too. I wanted to see what is all the hype about and damn was I amazed. So now I just watch 10 episodes max and see if its my cup of tea for chinese historical dramas. As for the long ballad, it took only three words to convince me "strong/intelligent main leads". Which is like my favorite genre. As I continued watching, I became more interested on personal character development of the characters. One thing appreciate about this drama is that even small roles have a huge value. In addition to the story, the acting, direction and production makes us crave for the episodes every day. So if you do end up watching it, I say watch it after it ends lol.